Display cabinet



March 28, 1950 H. R. DENTON 2,502,076

DISPLAY CABINET Filed Feb. 8, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. AMMVEV A.DENTQIV March 28,1950

H. R. DENTON DISPLAY CABINET 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 8, 1946 BY 7. M

Patented Mar. 28, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 7 DISPLAY CABINETHarvey R. Denton, Oakland, Calif. Application February 8, 1946, SerialNo. 646,262

This invention relates to an improved display case for refrigeratedfood.

The main object of the invention is the provision of an improved displaycabinet for fresh produce that will maintain the same relatively freshwhile permitting the produce to be handled.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the description and in thedrawings.

Fig; 1 is a perspective view of part of a display cabinet.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan viewof one of the recesses and frames in saidcabinet.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 33of Fig. 3.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

In Figs. 1 to 4 the cabinet ilustrated comprises sidewalls I thatinclude upper side wall portions 3 that extend slantingly upwardlytoward each other and to a top wall 5. End walls '1 may close the ends.

The lower side Wall portions below the slanted portions 3, may be formedwith openings closed by hinged glass doors 6, which doors are preferablyof double glass panes 1 (Fig. 4) to provide a heat insulation air layerbetween them and to prevent objectionable frosting of the glass. Abottom wall 8 is also provided.

The inclined portions 3 are each formed with a horizontal row ofrecesses 9 that open outwardly of the portions 3. The open sides ofthese recesses are coplanar with the portions 3 and the sides of saidrecesses extend inwardly into the cabinet at right angles to theportions 3, each recess being provided with a bottom 10. The recessespreferably are rectangular in shape for receiving a rectangular cartonll therein and which carton carries the liner l2 that is of materialimpervious to the passage of air and the produce (not shown) is carriedin the carton within the liner (Fig. 3).

In Figs. 3, 4 the carton is shown as terminating at its free edgessubstantially flush with the walls 3 that surround said openings and thefree edges of the liner are even with the edges of the carton. It is tobe understood that in these views the carton and liner have had one sideremoved to expose the produce through the open side of the carton andthrough the open side of each 2 Claims. (Cl. 62-.89.5)

are adapted to extend into the carton and liner 5 along each side foryieldably forcingthem out-5 wardly and for holding the frame inposition.

These members l4 also hold the sides of the,

tional cooling coils l5 (Fig. 4) from a conventional refrigeration unitl6 (Fig. 1) and some ofsaid coils may extend below the recesses as atll. These coils. preferably extend from end to.

end of the cabinet and all walls of the cabinet, exclusive of the sidesand bottoms of, recesses 3.. are provided with, heat insulationmaterial. In the case of the doors the air gap between the. glass panesprovides the material while the. material indicated at 18 may be on allother walls. p

The sides of adjacent recesses in each row are, spaced apart to permitflow of air between them and spaced braces l9 between the recesses ofthe pair of rows function to brace the recesses and to hold them fromsagging.

In the space in the cabinet below the recesses ample room is providedfor storage of extra sealed cartons 20 filled with produce. These may bewithdrawn from the storage space as deemed necessary and may besubstituted as units for the empty cartons in the recesses or elseproduce from the said cartons may be dumped into the recesses in whichlatter instance there need be no cartons in the recesses. Preferably therecesses and the cartons 20, where th latter are used, are ofcorresponding size and shape so that the cartons will fit the recessesand the walls of the recesses will not be exposed to the atmosphere.

By the foregoing method and cabinet fresh produce on the market willremain fresh even in the hottest weather and without enclosing theproduce in cabinets and the customers can get delivery of any amountfrom a single unit to any number. Also the customers can inspect andhandle the produce in the usual manner.

Preferably the top of the cabinet is extended as at 25 to formhorizontally projecting refiectors and shades for conventional tubularfluorescent or cold lighting elements 26 below such reflectors. Thesereflectors do not project out so far as to in any way interfere with thereplacement of cartons or produce but they are still relatively close tothe recesses and rays therefrom are reflected into the recesses and ontothe produce. The downwardly curved shield portion 1. A display cabinethaving a top wall, side walls and a bottom wall, one of said side wallsincluding a portion extending slantingly downwardly and outwardly fromsaid top wall, a horizontal row of recesses in said portion having theirsidesextending slantingly downwardly into said cabinet and openingoutwardly through said por- 2. In a cabinet of the character describedhaving a side wall provided with an outwardly opening rectangular recesstherein for receiving therein a container of similar size and contour,container within said recess of said size and contour having an openside corresponding with the open side of said recess and with the edgesdefining said open side being along the edges of said side wall definingthe open side of said recess, a continuous rectangular frame extendingover the said edges of said container and over the marginal portion ofsaid side wall around the open side of said recess, separate yieldableelements on said frame respectively carried by two oppo site sidesthereof projecting inside said container from said frame in yieldableengagement with tion, refrigeration means within said cabinet ineludingcooling coils for a refrigerant disposed below said top wall and abovethe side walls of said-recesses, the adjacent sides of adjacent re'cesses in said row being spaced apart for circulation of air betweensaid sides, and the walls of said cabinet other than the side walls andbotlight tube over said open sides and for reflecting light from saidtube into said open sides, said light tube being disposed relatively.close to the upper ends of the open sides of said recesses and to oneside of the outwardly projected areas of.

said recesses respectively whereby produce may be loaded into saidrecesses and removed therefrom free from interference with said lighttube.

the inner sides of said container adjacent said elements for yieldablyurging said sides of said container outwardly toward the sides of saidre cess and for yieldably holding said frame on said container.

HARVEY R. DEN'ION.

.- file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 290,387 Beatty Dec. 18, 18831,443,207 Blount Jan. 23, 1923 1,708,253 Bell et al Apr. 9, 19291,721,132 Orthwine July 16, 1929 1,861,112 Christian May 31, 19321,895,319 Grande Jan. 24, 1933 1,961,337 Cornell June 5, 1934 2,252,237Stiles Aug. 12, 1941 2,271,103 Sherman Jan. 27, 1942 2,371,985 FreibergMar. 20, 1945

